U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Thursday she is running for governor of Minnesota, promising to take on Donald Trump while unifying a state that has endured a series of challenges even before the federal government’s immigration crackdown.
Klobuchar’s decision gives Democrats a high-profile candidate and proven statewide winner as their party tries to hold onto the office occupied by Gov. Tim Walz.
Klobuchar cited Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota, federal officers killing two Minnesotans who protested, the assassination of a state legislative leader and a school shooting that killed multiple children — all within the last year. She avoided direct mention of ongoing fraud investigations into the child care programs that Trump has made a political cudgel.
She’s outperformed other Democrats in the years she’s run, so not sure if relying on this platform is a good representation of our state.
As for other challengers, I’m not sure. Not a lot of other higher-profile DLFers that haven’t already thrown their hat into other races.
ALL other Democrats or just the ones she’s been up against?
Because she’s never been up against Ilhan Omar, let alone at the perfect time for a progressive firebrand to run, what with fascist murderers running riot on the streets of Minneapolis using money Klobuchar voted to give them.
She’s gotten a higher vote total than other Democrats that have been up for election in the years that she’s run in. Her margins have been noticeably higher.
That said, I would love a much more DFL (rather than just Democrat) candidate that could post good state-wide numbers. The challenge is in finding them.
I’d vote for Omar in a second, but the Fox News-ification of outstate MN will make it challenging to say the least, unfortunately. It would really take a dedicated messaging team to even start to undue the propaganda against her.
What about vote percentages? Biden had a higher vote total in 2020 than Hillary did in 2016, but a lower percentage.
Winning a district of 718k by more total votes than anyone successfully running in a statewide Minnesota election is literally impossible, but Omar won reelection with over 75% of the vote in 2024.
Than 75%+? I highly doubt it.
Same. Such as Ilhan Omar.
points at Ilhan Omar There’s one!
They do that every time she runs. Still got 75.3% of the vote a little over a year ago.
Not really. As evidenced by her landslide 2024 win, what she’s already doing is already plenty to make her extremely popular even as every politician and pundit to the right of Ro Khanna slander and libel her at every opportunity.
I’m not basing anything solely on this thread. Do you know or can you think of any politician that could be platformed to primary her, or for a challenge run for Gov?
Like I said, there’s no candidates that would likely be able to win statewide that haven’t already said they were running for other positions. Our current Lt. Governor is running for Tina Smith’s Senate seat (she’s retiring at the end of the term).
That may change in the future, but none currently.
Sounds like we need local folks to start running.